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Italian WW1 Grenades


Achtung Spitfire!

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I have a few Italian WW1 grenades and this is probably my favourite the Benaglia Rifle Grenade. I had to work hard on the wings because they were pretty badly corroded but soaking them in white vinegar,wire wooling and a careful use of a 20200731_171357.thumb.jpg.2162b057cd62c39e756008be1acbfab4.jpgdrimmel bought them back nicely. Like anything Italian I think it has lots of style 👌

 

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Very nice! Italian grenades here are very scarce. I have only the SIPE and BPD models.

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Roger that.I also have an M14 Discus, Carbone ,Brevetatto  & a BPD. Post some pics shortly. Does your Snipe have a fuse? Loads of Snipes over here just bodies though no fuses. A fuse makes a grenade in my humble opinion. 

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M14 Discus. Semi relic but solid. Original brass fuse and housing. Added the wick for effect. 

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Nice discus, I also have the besozzi I forgot to mention earlier. 

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My SIPE grenade does not have the fuse, unfortunately, however I was thinking of having one made. 

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Besozzis & Brevetattos are quite similar appearance wise don't you think? A repro fuse for the snipe would be good. Would that be off someone Stateside?

My Brevetatto.Again with a wick. Haven't got those quite right yet .So far they've been soaked in tea,coffee, had rust coloured paint and varnish applied. I'll keep at it.

 

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Yes, most Italian grenades had simple fuses, it would be easy to replicate those.

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I have a machinist that I can use to make hard to find items, for instance he is making a slip ring that went on the WW1 German grenade launcher as the one I have was missing. But it takes a lot of time, so guess its a trade off. 

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Replica fuses are hard to come by over here but if you look hard enough you will find them.

Leather washer that sits under an Egg Grenade transit plug.

Egg Grenade fuse (Later fragmented band version) Note the leather washer.

Nos 15 16 & 28 Brocks Igniter

 

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Last of my Italian grenades in my collecion to date. Carbone grenade. Fragmented cast iron body. Relic status but basically sound. Really like the stamps that run down both sides. Of all the grenades I've come across the stamps on Carbone grenades are by far the boldest. 

BPD grenade. This is a really tidy example. On removing the brass fuse cap the fuse itself had to be struck on something hard to initiate the ignition process.

 

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Here is my BPD, I did some digging into my junk bins, and it turns out I do have the remains of the SIPE fuse, I will work on restoring it.

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Ah a Sipe fuse in the junk bin nice find. Nice BPD too.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here is a WW1 era Italian Bertone rifle grenade. This item was launched from a discharger cup, similar to the French VB type, the last image shows a diagram of this grenade and launcher. Not much else is known about this grenade and launcher, in fact I have never seen the launcher. 

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